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Description

“Ah shure do love me them spiders!”

Female Drow PC, Icewind Dale II

Here’s the perfect lady for Halloween, courtesy of kachima !

Meet Lady Basjas herself, the former Sabathina de Launay, the antagonist of our ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’ story! As you can see, arachnophobes need not apply, because this one really loves her little eight-legged friends!

“On candy-striped legs the Spider-Man comes

Softly through the shadow of the evening sun

Stealing past the windows of the blissfully dead

Looking for the victim shivering in bed

Searching out fear in the gathering gloom

And suddenly - A movement in the corner of the room!

And there is nothing I can do, I realize with fright

The Spider-Man is having me for dinner tonight…!

Quietly he laughs and shaking his head

Creeps closer now, closer to the foot of the bed

And softer than shadow and quicker than flies

His arms are around me and his tongue in my eyes!

‘Be still, be calm, be quiet now, my precious little boy

Don't struggle like that or I will only love you more…!’

For it's much too late to get away or turn on the light

The Spider-Man is having you for dinner tonight!

And I feel like I'm being eaten by a thousand million shivering furry holes

And I know that in the morning I will wake up in the shivering cold

The Spider-Man is always hungry…!

‘Come into my parlour,’ said the spider to the fly, ‘for I have a little something here…!’”

The Cure, ‘Lullaby’

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijxk-f…

(Yeah, it’s a tad obvious, but my infamous 90’s lap-dancing song is a perfect fit for Sabby here. The dichotomy of the song title and its unsettling lyrics, the seductive nature of the nightmare being described, the weird feeling of emptiness. This is a lady who likes to play with her food…!)

Come Into My Parlour

Basjas is a very involved member of the ‘Kiss of the Spider-Woman’ story. Many tales of hunting monsters involve also being hunted by them…! But this story is somewhat different. She is a large part of what goes on, often present and always integrated with the affairs of the hunters. She can be a murderous monster or a gracious host as her moods take her, and that’s what makes her a compelling antagonist.

But is she a ‘villain’…? Perhaps not in the strictest sense. This is a complicated tale of ours, not the usual story of heroes and villains. The lines of ‘good and evil’ become blurred, just as the hunter can easily become the hunted prey.

As Benedict King tells the girls in the first act, all monsters were once men, and the only way to fully destroy them is to learn more about them… a process that frequently renders the hunters sympathetic to their prey. Having to put down a creature than was once human and decent is heart-breaking, a toll taken out on the souls of the hunters.

But as Star Wars fans know, redemption is a powerful force also. Just as people can fall from the Light into the Dark, can the reverse be true? As Luke redeemed Anakin not through violence but with love, can a monster – even a Nightmare, a member of the Hellion Court – return to some semblance of humanity? While there are certainly ‘heroic’ monsters as player-characters – ghosts, werewolves, vampires, as well as stitched-together Created and soul-sucking Forsaken – Sabathina is a high-ranking Nightmare, and there are no records of such a being steeped in wickedness ever being restored to decency. But does that mean the attempt should not be made?

Tahani al’Julani’s audacious suggestion to the Diogenes Club was just this – to hunt the infamous vampiress, but rather than destroy her, make her an offer she could not refuse. If successful, she might be a powerful ally, one with intimate knowledge of the Hellion Court and a personal reason to see the others destroyed. Redemption is a very seductive thing, on all sides after all. Although the motion passed by a single vote – thanks largely due to Tahani’s influence over Jasmine – the die was cast and the Hunt called.

What is surprising is how willing and obliging Lady Basjas seems to be in her own Hunt. As we shall see, she offers her own lair and clubhouse – the Oubliette – as a staging ground for their activities, her manner towards her hunters teasing, seductive and ambivalent. She denies the charges levelled against her – of being the mother of all things monstrous lurking in the city, of the murder of their allies, of bringing down virulent plagues and raising an army of walking dead. Can they trust her at her word? Are other powers orchestrating these atrocities behind the scenes? She seems sincere, but what if she lies, or forgets herself, in denial of who she is and what she has done?

She has already openly taken one of their members, Embracing vivacious heiress Constance Pearl and turning her into a creature of the night. True, Constance seems to enjoy her new nocturnal power, and Basjas has started to feel a responsibility for the silly girl… but is even this simply a scheme to unsettle them, or plant a viper in their nest?

Sabathina openly encourages the Club to hunt her, teasing them that ‘you don’t know me’, and suggesting they acquaint themselves with her secrets. She gives them letters, signs, omens, scattered pieces of her past, and wishes them to connect the fragments, join the dots of her mysteries. She points them at other monsters, encouraging the hunters to destroy them. Are they really just doing her bidding…? Or does she consciously seek death, perhaps hoping that these hunters might finally put an end to her and she will know peace?

And of course, she does not sit idly by during this process. She schemes and plans, in open view, towards some unknown end. She is the most dangerous prey, and she is going to be beside them every step of the way. There are those who wish to save her soul, and those whom wish her destroyed. Whether either of these goals are hers, they cannot know. So for now, hunters and hunted sup together and play together, each observing the other in unsettling fascination.

For I Have A Little Something Here…!

The Oubliette is many things; a lair for a vampiress, a theatre for disturbing plays, a dance-hall of unsettling performances, a boudoir of unimaginably heavenly delights… all invitation-only, of course. Many mortals seek its forbidden pleasures, and some even survive the experience. It is her weapon and her shield, and here Basjas seeds her secrets, inviting those bold enough to seek her out… and get to know her better.

Like any refined vampire, she collects specialists – actors, musicians, performers, dancers, courtesans. Rich red garments and golden masks are a frequent theme, and some say she entertains the most special guests herself in the privacy of her infamous Red Room. Her harlots are some of the finest in Gaea, each specialising in unusual erotic delights, and she is finding herself intrigued by the possibilities offered by her new world, the ways of this ‘Earth-Realm’. (Vampire OnlyFans when??)

The Red Lady’s club is as luxurious as you might expect, although beneath the finery there is an odd feeling of decay about everything… While she does not perform every night (a girl has to hunt to eat!) Basjas is very involved in the events and festivities here. As the whim takes her, she stars in Grand Guignol plays, she sings haunting melodies in front of her orchestra, and sometimes dances in burlesque routines. She invites you into her glamorous, seductive world like a Nile femme fatale… But there is a melancholy beneath the finery, a hint of sorrow and an aching loss. She invites you to get to know her better, to familiarise yourself with her tragedies… and become inextricably caught up in her web. For better or worse, those who enter her lair will find themselves forever changed…

Description

“Ah shure do love me them spiders!”

Female Drow PC, Icewind Dale II

Here’s the perfect lady for Halloween, courtesy of kachima !

Meet Lady Basjas herself, the former Sabathina de Launay, the antagonist of our ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’ story! As you can see, arachnophobes need not apply, because this one really loves her little eight-legged friends!

“On candy-striped legs the Spider-Man comes

Softly through the shadow of the evening sun

Stealing past the windows of the blissfully dead

Looking for the victim shivering in bed

Searching out fear in the gathering gloom

And suddenly - A movement in the corner of the room!

And there is nothing I can do, I realize with fright

The Spider-Man is having me for dinner tonight…!

Quietly he laughs and shaking his head

Creeps closer now, closer to the foot of the bed

And softer than shadow and quicker than flies

His arms are around me and his tongue in my eyes!

‘Be still, be calm, be quiet now, my precious little boy

Don't struggle like that or I will only love you more…!’

For it's much too late to get away or turn on the light

The Spider-Man is having you for dinner tonight!

And I feel like I'm being eaten by a thousand million shivering furry holes

And I know that in the morning I will wake up in the shivering cold

The Spider-Man is always hungry…!

‘Come into my parlour,’ said the spider to the fly, ‘for I have a little something here…!’”

The Cure, ‘Lullaby’

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijxk-f…

(Yeah, it’s a tad obvious, but my infamous 90’s lap-dancing song is a perfect fit for Sabby here. The dichotomy of the song title and its unsettling lyrics, the seductive nature of the nightmare being described, the weird feeling of emptiness. This is a lady who likes to play with her food…!)

Come Into My Parlour

Basjas is a very involved member of the ‘Kiss of the Spider-Woman’ story. Many tales of hunting monsters involve also being hunted by them…! But this story is somewhat different. She is a large part of what goes on, often present and always integrated with the affairs of the hunters. She can be a murderous monster or a gracious host as her moods take her, and that’s what makes her a compelling antagonist.

But is she a ‘villain’…? Perhaps not in the strictest sense. This is a complicated tale of ours, not the usual story of heroes and villains. The lines of ‘good and evil’ become blurred, just as the hunter can easily become the hunted prey.

As Benedict King tells the girls in the first act, all monsters were once men, and the only way to fully destroy them is to learn more about them… a process that frequently renders the hunters sympathetic to their prey. Having to put down a creature than was once human and decent is heart-breaking, a toll taken out on the souls of the hunters.

But as Star Wars fans know, redemption is a powerful force also. Just as people can fall from the Light into the Dark, can the reverse be true? As Luke redeemed Anakin not through violence but with love, can a monster – even a Nightmare, a member of the Hellion Court – return to some semblance of humanity? While there are certainly ‘heroic’ monsters as player-characters – ghosts, werewolves, vampires, as well as stitched-together Created and soul-sucking Forsaken – Sabathina is a high-ranking Nightmare, and there are no records of such a being steeped in wickedness ever being restored to decency. But does that mean the attempt should not be made?

Tahani al’Julani’s audacious suggestion to the Diogenes Club was just this – to hunt the infamous vampiress, but rather than destroy her, make her an offer she could not refuse. If successful, she might be a powerful ally, one with intimate knowledge of the Hellion Court and a personal reason to see the others destroyed. Redemption is a very seductive thing, on all sides after all. Although the motion passed by a single vote – thanks largely due to Tahani’s influence over Jasmine – the die was cast and the Hunt called.

What is surprising is how willing and obliging Lady Basjas seems to be in her own Hunt. As we shall see, she offers her own lair and clubhouse – the Oubliette – as a staging ground for their activities, her manner towards her hunters teasing, seductive and ambivalent. She denies the charges levelled against her – of being the mother of all things monstrous lurking in the city, of the murder of their allies, of bringing down virulent plagues and raising an army of walking dead. Can they trust her at her word? Are other powers orchestrating these atrocities behind the scenes? She seems sincere, but what if she lies, or forgets herself, in denial of who she is and what she has done?

She has already openly taken one of their members, Embracing vivacious heiress Constance Pearl and turning her into a creature of the night. True, Constance seems to enjoy her new nocturnal power, and Basjas has started to feel a responsibility for the silly girl… but is even this simply a scheme to unsettle them, or plant a viper in their nest?

Sabathina openly encourages the Club to hunt her, teasing them that ‘you don’t know me’, and suggesting they acquaint themselves with her secrets. She gives them letters, signs, omens, scattered pieces of her past, and wishes them to connect the fragments, join the dots of her mysteries. She points them at other monsters, encouraging the hunters to destroy them. Are they really just doing her bidding…? Or does she consciously seek death, perhaps hoping that these hunters might finally put an end to her and she will know peace?

And of course, she does not sit idly by during this process. She schemes and plans, in open view, towards some unknown end. She is the most dangerous prey, and she is going to be beside them every step of the way. There are those who wish to save her soul, and those whom wish her destroyed. Whether either of these goals are hers, they cannot know. So for now, hunters and hunted sup together and play together, each observing the other in unsettling fascination.

For I Have A Little Something Here…!

The Oubliette is many things; a lair for a vampiress, a theatre for disturbing plays, a dance-hall of unsettling performances, a boudoir of unimaginably heavenly delights… all invitation-only, of course. Many mortals seek its forbidden pleasures, and some even survive the experience. It is her weapon and her shield, and here Basjas seeds her secrets, inviting those bold enough to seek her out… and get to know her better.

Like any refined vampire, she collects specialists – actors, musicians, performers, dancers, courtesans. Rich red garments and golden masks are a frequent theme, and some say she entertains the most special guests herself in the privacy of her infamous Red Room. Her harlots are some of the finest in Gaea, each specialising in unusual erotic delights, and she is finding herself intrigued by the possibilities offered by her new world, the ways of this ‘Earth-Realm’. (Vampire OnlyFans when??)

The Red Lady’s club is as luxurious as you might expect, although beneath the finery there is an odd feeling of decay about everything… While she does not perform every night (a girl has to hunt to eat!) Basjas is very involved in the events and festivities here. As the whim takes her, she stars in Grand Guignol plays, she sings haunting melodies in front of her orchestra, and sometimes dances in burlesque routines. She invites you into her glamorous, seductive world like a Nile femme fatale… But there is a melancholy beneath the finery, a hint of sorrow and an aching loss. She invites you to get to know her better, to familiarise yourself with her tragedies… and become inextricably caught up in her web. For better or worse, those who enter her lair will find themselves forever changed…